Broken?
by Jewel08
Summary: Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were both broken, yet somehow they carried on. Steve through desire to see his old friend, and the Winter Soldier through a desire to remember who he was.


p style="text-align: center;"Broken?/p  
p style="text-align: left;"strongA/N: This is based off of the Marvel movies, not the comics, and takes place right after the second Captain America movie. I wanted to dig a little deeper into Cap and Bucky's respective experiences and personalities, and this is what came to me. Enjoy! /strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;" Captain America, Steve Rogers, the world's first Avenger and the only Super-Soldier, lay weak and wounded on the banks of the river. The man gasped, trying not to breathe in too much air all at once. Confusion muddled his thoughts. How did he get here? As he tried to think, images flashed through his mind.../p  
p style="text-align: left;" Gunshots./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Pain./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Feeling blood beneath his fingers, coming from the wound./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Being shot again./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Bucky-no, the Winter Soldier-whaling on him, eyes wild./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "'Cause I'm with you to the end of the line," he'd gasped. Bucky had hesitated, Steve had seen recognition in the broken brown eyes of his oldest friend. Then-/p  
p style="text-align: left;" An explosion. Feeling weightless, falling through the air./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Crashing into the water along with debris from the helicarrier./p  
p style="text-align: left;" The panic and fear of the cold, of the water itself, freezing his muscles as he was swamped with the memories of being frozen alive in that ship. He couldn't have started swimming even if he'd wanted to./p  
p style="text-align: left;" But before the darkness claimed him, Steve thought that he had seen something, something that had been coming near.../p  
p style="text-align: left;" Steve blinked, still lacking the strength to even move his head. Next thing he knew, he was on the riverbank, alive. Weak and tired and fuzzy and dizzy as hell, sure, but alive./p  
p style="text-align: left;" But the image that refused to leave Steve was the last image of Bucky's face... he'd looked shocked and dazed, but Steve knew that Bucky had remembered that phrase! Damn it, he must have! Maybe, just maybe, Bucky had truly come back. Even just for a moment./p  
p style="text-align: left;" With that hope rekindled in his heart, Steve forced himself to sit up and get to his feet. He had to go after Bucky. Steve couldn't abandon him. His heart had shattered and never really healed after Bucky 'died', and Steve couldn't, wouldn't, let him go again. He owed Bucky too much./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Broken though he was, Steve forced himself to start walking./p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p  
p style="text-align: left;" The Winter Soldier ran. Ran from the man he'd saved, the man he'd been ordered to kill yet hadn't. the Winter Soldier ignored the ache of his muscles and the weakness from his injuries. But no matter how hard or fast he ran, the Winter Soldier couldn't shake the voices./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Voices he thought he should recognize. One, he definitely knew. The man he'd just saved was frequent. He heard laughter, crying, aching sorrow that crushed him. The Winter Soldier squeezed his eyes shut, not caring if he ran into a tree. Maybe then the voices would stop./p  
p style="text-align: left;" One sentence. That was all the man had uttered! em'Cause I'm with you to the end of the line./em Yet those tiny, inconsequential words that shouldn't have mattered froze him in place, unable to finish his mission. Why?!/p  
p style="text-align: left;" The Winter Soldier yelled, skidding to a stop, his boots carving deep trenches in the dirt. He punched a tree, smashing it to smithereens with his metal arm and the great strength it gave. Again, again, AGAIN!/p  
p style="text-align: left;" What was the name the man had called him? The Winter Soldier couldn't think, couldn't remember. His thoughts were foggy, and again the Winter Soldier swore./p  
p style="text-align: left;" The Winter Soldier, he thought. That's my name. All I need to know. That and the mission./p  
p style="text-align: left;" But then the Winter Soldier hesitated. A tiny wriggle of doubt bloomed in the back of his mind. The man he'd saved, who was he? Why had he saved the enemy? So many questions, yet no answers./p  
p style="text-align: left;" The Winter Soldier shook his head. He needed to know. He needed information. He'd find out the information he needed, then he'd make his next move./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Broken though he was, the man who was once Bucky Barnes, Captain America's best friend and brother, ran off alone,to find the past he couldn't remember./p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;" span style="text-decoration: underline;"Epilogue/span/p  
p style="text-align: left;" The search had led him here, to the museum called the Smithsonian. There was an exhibit there dedicated to Captain America, the man the Winter Soldier had saved all those weeks ago./p  
p style="text-align: left;" He ignored the large crowd around him as he walked forward. There was one specific part of the exhibit he needed to see. It would be one of the less visited areas, which suited him just fine./p  
p style="text-align: left;" And there it was. A glass wall, nothing major, except for what was on it./p  
p style="text-align: left;" The Winter Soldier stared at himself and read the name of the man he was, then set his jaw. emBucky Barnes/em./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Now it was time./p 


End file.
